The Many Roads Home
by Makilome
Summary: The arrival of the 21 year old Tameri Emerson, Mage and soldier MIA for 2 years in classfied parts of the world stops in its tracks the fate of the Lost Boys & the Emersons. Family secrets are made plain & can bring peace between Star, Michael, & the Lost Boys or end in a Blood Hunt that will paint Santa Carla red. Tameri & Dwayne are Fated & he'll never let her go. :) READ INSIDE
1. Chapter 1

**The Many Roads Home**

**Michael Emerson's 20 year old sister Tameri (Tah-meer-ee), who has been MIA for 2 years deep in the former Soviet strongholds in Afghanistan by the same people who had tricked them into giving them American military training, funding, and weponary sets everything into tell spin when she shows up, in Dress Greens and a Purple Heart making it impossible for the girl to walk without a limp with imbedded shrapnel imbedded in the bone that can only be made to do no futher damage puts on hiatous the plan to take out the Lost Boys. As scared as he is and as much as he loves Star, he will not risk loosing his older sister again, and she WOULD go after them if they should try anything. But Miri (what they call her) has secrets of her own. And her gifts and her Enochian Craft learned from another in her former unit catches the attention of the vampires. And Dwayne can not control the pull he feels to be near her and can't stop himself for finding reasons to see her. And in Tameri, Max sees not only a daughter after his own heart with whom he bonds instantly, he sees an ally and the opportunity to make known his desires and to see his favorite son Dwayne happy. The writing is on the wall, and the love story between Dwayne Hanahepi-wei and Tameri Emerson can also end in the Peace between the Lost Boys and Michael, Star and the Froggs and an unusual group of people become a family.**

**Series of scars upon sun kissed skin**

**angry marks on female flesh**

**toned every inch and nothing less**

**than marching soldier walking the treds**

**with haunted eyes and monsterous grin.**

**And all the nights before fly out with the wind**

**at the sound of shouts and happy surprise**

**strangers and brothers jumping alike**

**strong arms wrapping round like the best kind of gripping vice**

**and all other things by all is forgotten.**

**For the lost daughter once mourned is home again**

**a mother's tears are turned to jubilee**

**a brother's guilt is let loose and set free**

**a stranger's hand starts a short dance and swings**

**a sudden turn and everything stops in a second.**

**Coal black eyes reach out, up and in**

**and stop the time and every voice**

**beginning an affair of both need and choice**

**neither could turn when they were the other's love and joy.**

**-Soldiers and the Many Ways Home by Makilome**

**In this version, Marko is wounded but moved just so that the stake missed his vitals and went straight through. He is healed but like Tameri has a wound that will always cause him some trouble when Max gives him the healing blood after Miri drags him aside and tells me to get back there and go heal his son before his other sons massacred any chance he had at a family. This starts the night after Tameri gets home, when Dwayne sees her the first time.**

**Chapter One: We are All Monsters Here**

Tameri's POV

The wind blew whisps back of Miri's long dark chestnut hair, curling back from falling out of her half french braid. The ocean air was cooler than she imagined, causing the ocean color eyed and sun kissed beauty to opt for her green bomber's jacket. Beneath was her army green tunic tank, fitting firmly around her curves like a second skin till flowing out in long, low layers down past her bottom ⅓. The neckline is daring but just modest enough, baring the symbol their platoon came up with, two Viking daggers with the heads of Asian dragons that were bright red and golden beards with eyes left black above a Sparton shield in bronze with the old adage writen in Latin on the inner rim of the shield "Come home carrying your shield, or on it." Something Miri took litterally in honor for all the men and women who could not keep that promise, walking over 2 miles, rather long with her limp where the explosion got her and took her down but she was and would always be a soldier. She also wore her first gift, her initiation surprise given her by the Archmage of their small and hidden Enochian coven, hidden within the ranks for those few found with certain "gifts" in testing while being placed, a long silver and gold chain bearing a golden pendent with the Key of Solomon carved in beautifully, mounted on a minature like dagger and with two beautiful dragons without streched wings wrapped around one another. (Can find it on my author page later). She had black plain leggings she had picked up on the way, looking for something that didn't catch easy on snags, something one learned to have ingrained into the mind out in the field.

And the boots her mom Lucy bought her tickled her fancy immediately, making her think instantly of Leigh, a shoe diva that had a strange adoration for her long, calf hugging army issued boots. When Miri found them in black she had to have them, especially with those wedge high black platforms that laced with camoflague lacing all the way up! It felt good to be able to laugh at such things now instead of the knife through the heart that use to leave her awake every night her captors did not. Her mother had been brilliant, but she had a feeling it had to do with the new man in her life, the one Michael kept glaring at. It had been hard not to laugh. How the hell he couldn't tell from the moment he saw Max the man wasn't human, or how it was he thought his mother DIDN'T know was beyond her! Granted, it was a St. Monica secret passed down through the female line of the family, the "gifts" that gave them Sight, telepathy, the ability to see and interpret aura's as well as a natural feeling towards magick that sent them seeking to develop their gifts. But being Catholic at heart though her mother fell by the way side well before she was born, Miri worked in Enochian ALONE, PERIOD! She was working with God, and she would bow down before no false entity pretending to be a god of a bygone age demanding gifts that held no meaning or would end in them owning you, something that she saw far to many young witches, pagans, and mages fall into when they are desperate for power and unwilling to wait, learn, and work and development. But things such as bombs can disorient the gift, make something unable to read and it blindsided them 2 years ago and took down their caravan. Even now she didn't know what exactly happened and she still didn't care to. Because if she did, she would be out for revenge and such carried a heavy price she was not ready to pay.

She looked up and out into the coming night, watching the stars come out. Her and Michael had a long TALK about just what the hell he thought he had been playing at! The cute little blonde Marked had almost died, he could have got himself and everyone else killed! She laid into Star and both Michael and Lucy had to hold her back while Max tried to talk her down while the others left. She had eyed him and said "this is about us, just now. Your son needs you! He is not dead, but if he ever wants to be over half the vamp he use to be, he needs your blood and he needs lots of it and needs it right now! I won't watch my family slaughtered over this so GO!" she was so used to commmanding she didn't even think about it while the older vampire blinked before hope shined in his eyes and he blurred out while Lucy rolled her eyes and stared them both down. "Michael, the females of our line have GIFTS! You knew Miri has them, how could you think I didn't know about Max, or his sons?! I told you I met them in the store! I would have known if they meant us any harm! As a Enochain it is my duty to wipe out any Marked who takes out innocent life and believe me when I say, if you think this is the Murder Capital now, without the Boys it could be a lot worse!" Lucy ranted. "As for you, little Miss Slut, what game do you think you are playing? Real people could have got hurt tonight! What if Laddie would have ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time? You have little boys, not even past 18 yet playing GI Joe with things that could rip off their heads faster than they can blink!

I can get you don't like what you are but that is not their fault and don't even start with me! Every Marked is given a choice, when they are embraced. It is part of Cain's curse. They can choose to pass on, or they can accept the blood and become Kindred. I don't know much more than that and the name. That is not my area. But I do know that you are not the innocent you pretend that you are! You knew something was in that bottle. Maybe not what, but you knew something was not entirely natural, you noticed how they moved, how they looked, the way they make others around them feel, that predatory draw. You wanted that, you wanted to be that! And when they gave you the means, you didn't think to stop and ask questions till it was to late. Nobody tricked you Star! You didn't ask, they didn't tell, and then you begin this thing that could have killed everyone, had I not showed up when I did last night!. You are damn lucky Marko didn't die, or there would be no way to salvage this! If you don't want to turn then don't! There are ways to deal with the thirst. Ever think of animals? There is a sea out there full of them! Birds, small rodents, etc. You can even buy and breed them yourself! But this does not happen again! You have this one chance to show you can be a sane member of this household. That you do actually care about my brother and can be the woman he dreamed of. You can even go about fighting this together. But if you threaten to pull a stunt like this again I will drag you to them by your hair and throw you at their feet to let them exact Kindred justice, do you understand?!" Miri was furious, and that scared look and kip quiver did nothing for her. She had seen real war, real pain and suffering. This girl had been through nothing in comparison and her coven treated her releatively well considering how other covens could opperate.

Michael glared at her. "Just because you come back doesn't make you the head of the house Tameri! She was just trying to protect me! You have no idea what the man had planned for us or what…." Lucy gave her look of death that shocked all into silence but Miri who smirked. "But I did, the Sight, remember? Max was going to tell me everything, and then he was going to ask for my hand tonight. He would never force something on me I did not want nor do something to you that could not be taken back. As your sister just explained." Mike was stunned. "You wouldn't?!" he half accused half pleaded. "And what if I told you I had fallen for the man you cleared for death? I fell for him, knowing what he was, and I love him still. I am not ready for marriage, but I am going to be with him. And his sons will be in and out of this house. And if you raise a hand to any of my other sons again, it shall not go well with you, am I understood?" The Froggs began to speak. "You can't know what you are speaking of, Mrs Emerson! He is a blood sucker! A fiend! Forgive me um… Tameri but you haven't been here and you don't know! They kill!" she fixed Edgar with a cold scare that sent a visable chill down his spine and made him gulp. "So do I Edgar, I kill. I have killed before, and if need be, I will kill again. Have you ever killed a man?" she stepped closer, a few inches from his face. "It cuts out a piece of you, and with each death a little more of you withers away and dies as well. And you become less and less with each one. And it matters not whether it is because I use a gun, or they use their teeth. They are more the righteous. They kill to survive. My brothers and sisters die over the dollar, the bottom line. No better than mercenerys except we are given no choice!" a tear slid.

"Tameri…" Mike whispered, getting up, while Star choked. Lucy wrapped around her. "My child! My daughter, you are not a monster!" The Froggs both looked sad, but Alan led his older brother out. "This isn't our place, dude." he turned an eye to her. "You are not like them. You're not." and she answered "and maybe they are not the monsters you think they are anymore than I the monster I believe myself to be." And with the younger boy the point drove home, though Edgar denied the truth still. Long months and she had not broken, taken out of dark places which had to remain nameless, amongst those peoples that we both fight and fund. And for all she had seen she knew that should she voice her thoughts she would be labled a terrorist, a trader. But they had reasons to hate their country, the hypocrites who gave with one hand and then sliced off the hand it put in the item it just gave and took both before stroming the place and burning what did not have any use and blame it on some poor local people who had no ability nor currency to fight against the slander. And yet it was not her or her people who did these things, but even if they did know, what would they do? Justify it, give the same old tired excuses the Crusading knights once used. Nothing really changed. And the true believers were far worse in their crimes than those who were there for what they could gain. When a man wanted something there were deals that could be done, things of value that could be traded for peace, and lives could continue to go on relatively undisturbed. Sometimes a corrupt goverment was far better than a theocracy headed by a maniac with a severe Napoleonic Complex.

Lives she had to end, all the fires, the screams. The men she killed soing nothing more than gathering what they could in a hostile part of the world to defend their families from rapists and murderes on both sides and she had to look them in the eyes before aiming the gun at point blank range and pulling the trigger. Upon returning she went back to the faith she abandoned when she was younger. For only God could give her any form of peace, only God could repay what she had done, and she found comfort that there would come a time when she would be called to answer and she would bow her head before her Savior and say "I have come to answer for my terrible crimes, and not to boast of my acts of love. To be your child is to love, to commit murder is to be the child of the Devil. Send me into the hottest parts of the Purgatorial flames, to burn away the hate and the evil and the sinful flesh stained with blood that my soul may come through clean and purified like gold and the people who I have wronged be satisfied with my agony and be at Peace with me." The love of the Holy Mother and her intercession over her soul inspite of her great crimes filled her with such a loving ectasy that she spent hours on her knees unable to stand. And the Saints came to give her peace, for her deeds, and to help her learn how to purge the anger and the hatred from her soul. It was out in the open now. All the things that got Miri sent to the field in the first place, the acts of rape, being beaten, used like a toy while everyone else saw the innocent family man was all out with a shout when Lucy found her husband with another girl, one who looked like she could be her twin, covered in bruises that covered her bare hips and across her lower stomach, the digging finger prints into her thighs and the screams.

She hadn't just been cheated on! But Lucy and Miri kept that to themselves. Their dad had never harmed Michael or Sam, and neither understood why something about her brought out this monster he had hidden away. Lucy took the girl to the hospital and convinced the family that she would be leaving immediately, but for her daughter it was to late. Informed by letter, she never got her mother's pleas until she had gotten out of the thick of it. And she was not ready to talk about any of it. Right now she need to be held and she was rather surprised with how tender Mike was being, and even Sam who had blamed her! "You are a soldier, a girl soldier! I never seen so many metals, they don't give metals to murderers! You aren't like them!" her little brother argued and she gave him a small smile at his naivte. "You have a lot to learn about the world, Sport. They often give things to those who do not earn them, and when they don't, those people usually steal them. Those men are more honest than a lot of people you are going to meet in this world. The people, like mom and I, that watch this town would not let them simply kill whom ever they wished. It's a persona they created, like a shield, for others of their kind to stay out. Those Surf Nazi's, I ran into a few. They are mean, parasitic, and they prey on the vulnebility of young girls and peer pressure young kids into things far to big for them that can hurt them and their families. They hurt people who hurt others, not hunt for the innocent. Others they feed off gently, no more than feeling a little dazed, like getting blood drawn I would imagine and in a crowded place they could easily take their pick and no one would be the wiser. The missing posters are not their doing, there are other things at work here. Star?" she turned to the silent beautiful gypsy.

"How can you be so sure?" she asked her, eyes narrowed into slits. Star's hatred for that coven was deep, and without logic or reasons. She didn't need them. Her hatred for them was actually hatred for what she allowed herself to become. "Because I have the Sight, and I saw them. You never actually have gone to feed with them. As you are a lady and these are mostly men from the day and age when chivarly was not dead, they were not going to force initaition on you like Mike, only that was more for his benefit. Like a deranged frat." she said with a snort and strangely, he got it and he let out one himself before facepalming himself and muttering the blonde David's name.

She looked to her mother. "So mom, tell me, um…. how is he?" she said with clear innuedo while giving her a proud leer and a slap on the rump to lighten the mood turning her mother into the same shade of red as a fire hydrant. "MIRI! I'm your mother!" her breath was up making her smile. "THAT good huh?! Good for you mom! About time! I like him already! Now we are going to do what should of happened a couple weeks ago. Tell me all about him!" she said, making Star scoot who looked interested. It was clear she feared Max but her main interactions was with David and the Boys. Those she got to short of a look at and demanded later on the phone to Max after playing torture the Lover Boy with two thousand embarissing questions game that they all came next time and had a proper introduction. She even invited Alan but kept Edgar out of it. Alan had a head on his shoulders and could make a good Hunter someday, when the time was right. Edgar was bigoted, stupid, reckless, and arrogant, all things that could get himself and anyone near him killed and she wasn't in the best shape to be able to facedown a Blood Hunt coming from the other parts of California because Rambo got a bug up his ass and decided to go postal during the day. She had a friend who specialized in rings, ones that could allow them bouts of time in the sun. Something that could be of use with said other brother, convincing him that they were never vampires, it was all in his head, and he had almost killed someone innocent and have the Readers work together to create the accompanying memories. With a wide smile Lucy launched into going to apply at Max's Videostore for a job and meeting Thorn, helping the little boy and Max.

She glowed when she talked about him, like an angel, the light played in her hair and the long dull and dead look in her eyes now shined and sparkled with blaring life, her smile and her laughter, sometimes boisterous and other times shy bounced off the walls and had her children joining her, and even Star got a dreamy look in her eyes and stole glances in Mike's direction, almost like seeing if he was taking notes that made her giggle to herself and think that perhaps Star was not like Edgar, not so far gone and tonight's scare had given the girl back her reason. Her life had been a hard one, the life of a carny was not the life anyone wanted, and the girl desperately needed family, any kind of family, and just so happened to find what looked to be an empty place that housed four very good looking men. She was willing to give her a try. She could be good for her brother and he had done a lot worse in the past. He had a real temper too, something that didn't seem to exist around the mysterious girl in her swirling dress, making her overjoyed as she feared that he could inherit the temper of their father and there be a repeat of her own nightmare. Lucy spoke about the dates, the fine places all the way to the more fun carnival dates, like a couple of teens eating cotton candy and sneaking kisses here and there while watching the lights go by or clinging on to Max for dear life when he finally managed to get her to go on a rollarcoaster only to insist on going on it ten more times in a row afterward. It was offical, mama was smitten and her daughter approved! Not that the man needed to know that JUST yet, he needed to sweat a minute and put a leash on his boys. David had pushed to far to fast and it almost ended up in disaster for all of them! And now she understood the old saying that the Lord works in mysterious ways.

When the others left her in her room, the one she now shared with Star she begged an hour to torture her mother's boyfriend before dialing the Videostore and getting the more than helpful girl to give her the home phone. "Good evening my Charmer! It seems I owe you a dinner! I have never seen my mom so happy, she really loves you, you know. Us St. Monica women, we are gifted that way. We KNOW things. Which is why you and I need to talk." Max projected emotion powerfully, she could feel him as though through the telephone cable. "Go ahead Sweet Soldier." she liked the nickname immediately, and she needed the endearment, everything still hurt.. "Tameri, it goes, with time. I know what you were made to do. There is just no honor in war, never was and never will be darling. But if you find the night or the day to much and you need to break, I am here. At the house during the day, I got a skin…" and she began to laugh. "There is no need for that with me, or with Lucy either. We know what you are Max. Lucy has always known. It's what I was trying to say. But… thank you. I may need that. I need something… not so different from you. I need a family and I think you and yours may be my chance." she could feel his hope spike through the phone. And then fear. "She…." "First of all, call me Sweet Soldier, adore that by the way, or Miri. Second of all, the women of the St. Monica line are born with inherent gifts passed on generation to generation. It bore in my father a fierce and violent hatred of me, you can ask her about it but not me just now, I need to share that with… " "Shh… Sweet Soldier you help me and I swear you'll have a family that will NEVER allow that piece of scum near you again! If you don't want him as your first that is…" It was a joke but it was damn tempting!

"Convince me Max. Convince me why you and your Boys should bring in more into this very odd new Adams Family." it made him laugh and he began to talk. He let loose everything he felt about Lucy, and he spoke about mates, and got real quiet. "Max?" she asked. "I have a feeling, about you. We have gifts too, as you know. Miri, I don't know how to tell you this, but you are a woman woven into the fabric of fate. Like your mother, you have a Fated. And as much as I love her, this will hinge on madness. I saw it last night but now, I think I see it all. Don't lock up your heart, be open and the Boys will teach you how to be free, and he will do for you what no one else will, what everyone else is afraid to do." her heart dropped. "TALK!" she demanded. "He is going to love you with a consuming fire that frightens the rest of us and you will pull him in and bind him till you are no longer you and he is nolonger him. I am warning you because Sweet Soldier, if you walk away it will murder him and I can't watch it happen. Just like you tonight. This is my repayment for what you have done, what you gave me." he said. Her heart pounded. "I have a mate?" it sounded school girlish but she had never met someone who truly wanted her. She was told she was beautiful by others but no man approached her who wasn't trying to use her for something. And now she was being told she had someone out there reaching out for her, who would come and take and posess her being, all she had wanted. Someone that understood and didn't run from the corpses at her feet or the blood on her hands. Someone who would follow her to Hell. There was a smile in his voice when he answered. "Yes my newly adopted daughter, you have a mate. And yes, and no." the last part made her groan.

If she had a mate, Fate stepped in and gave her a blindspot. And that was the reason no other would come for her. It was some strange rule in the Natural World. Only obeyed of course if she was meant to turn, which made her Addams Family theory seem not quite so far fetched. She was starting to hope Max was real good friends with the Prince of San Francisco, or she was going to have start doing favors for the Ventrue! Because of that however, her mate would remain a mystery till he revealed himself. All she had was that it was one of the four, or Max would not be tweaking out like he was. David was out of the question, he was a handsome man but to controlling with a temper that was dangerous and mixed with hers in a fight would mean ww3! Marko was lovely and he was sweet. To sweet! It would break her heart to in anyway darken that bright light that surrounded him. It was not normal for animals to flock to the Marked but they loved him and for good reason, and he loved them right back. He could never understand the depths of her pain, watching her people get slaughtered left and right all around her for something meaningless, pointless, as a piece of paper with a dead person be called worth far more than it actually was. Nothing was more worth anything than a single human life. Not all the wealth in the world can bring back someone to life. Which left the two she felt rather attracted to. Paul called to her wild side, the 'fuck it!' part of her that understood the world's darkest underbelly and decided life wasn't worth it if you didn't risk poking the dragon with a stick once in a while just to see if you can get out alive. He lingered long on her, and there was respect there when he saw her uniform and sympathy with her leg.

THose eyes could bring most women to their knees and the fact that she was still toe to toe and in her own conversation while still taking him in was impressive, and he had a very obevious appreciation for her exceptional curves and even every slight smirk pulled up his own lips revealing a very fetching and fun-loving grin. But danger lurked beneath, and a solid mind hiding behind the guise of the brain-dead stoner. he was calculating, quick on his feet, and could judge those around him with an accuracy she only ever saw in herself on a moment's notice and not be wrong. His thoughts traveled along those dress greens, and a hidden romantic from the man he once had been shown just how taken he had been by her ocean eyes, storming with emotion and violence when she first bore down on the Froggs and called out Star. Being the resident perv, his mind wondered just how those other limbs like to bend a little, and her accent she had gotten while in Europe that still had traces in her speech had him drooling and longing to hear her draw out his name. And then there was the one that was the very eptitome of Tall, Dark, and Handsome. Like her own family he bore Native blood and it was strong, she was guessing he was full. His eyes never ever left her form, and he followed everything she did from the moment she joined the scene. And she liked him watching, boy did she like him watching! Those coal black eyes were hooks right into her very being, she could happily drown in those dark chocolate orbs and die a very happy woman! The skin dark, looking like silk by the contrast of pretanatural olive tones and the silver rays of the moonlight.

Eyes deep set and those high cheekbones, that fitted jaw that was softened gave him a gentle look. His nose was straight but not sharp and his shapely mouth held lips plump and so damn soft and inviting a woman may be excused for losing her reason. That long neck and that body! His was on open display and it was perfect, not overly bulky, creased in all the right places and those long limbs, so strong. And she saw a thousand things, images. He had dragged the others out after a long shared look, that hateful glare only softened with her, a trace smile. _"Take what you need, Little Warrior. Tame them, I'd rather not cause you any more pain."_ he read her, knew her. A shared past centuries a part. The blonde who would draw her out and teach her to live and the raven haired Adonis who's past was hers and shared the hollowness that none of the others could possibly know. David and Max and seen war, but she and Dwayne had seen meaningless mass genocide and death with no ideology, no purpose, and had been forced to betray their own and have the blood of their own people stain their hands for paper, stupid, meaningless, idiotic paper! She knew who she leaned towards but then again, she closed her eyes and those blues also bore into hers. Tempting, daring, and begging. Much as a manwhore as her brother claimed Paul to be and he played himself to be, Paul wanted someone that was his and his alone. Someone to see past who he makes everyone believe he is and see the real him, to share that with them as a precious secret. Someone to protect, to hold close. He wanted someone. But Dwayne was like her. He NEEDED someone!

And now she was out on the porch, make-up done to perfection with smokey eye affect and thin egyptian inspired lines and lined, dark lips and her hair that waved and curled naturally framing around her neck and spiraling down towards the bottom part of her generous chest area and the top of her elongated torso. Her long arms were propped up by the elbows on either side of her knees, the left hand every so often twirling a strand that broke free from the top half of the braid around a finger and enjoying the silence while staring up at the night sky, crystal clear without the fog of the Boardwalk and smiling at the sound of the crashing waves of the ocean in the distance. She had always dreamed of this place when her mother use to talk about it as a child. She was looking forward to see grandpa's reactions to all of this when he got back from his mini Vegas old fart Convention as he called it in a few days, booking it when he heard she had gotten home and searching already for a black POW flag to fly in front of the house for the honor of those she lost. She almost broke again, thinking about them all, Leigh, Bo, a slight shake, no one would notice… Accept the tan but pale hand that slid down her elbow and gripped the other that snaked backed and pulled her in. "You don't believe it but it was not your fault, it was not, you have to keep telling yourself that, Little Soldier. You are something to precious to lose to the Dark." she shook and let herself lean back, both ignoring accept for his small smile when she looked up the chills that velvet voice sent up and down her spine. Dark chocolate meeting the ebb and flow of her ocean eyes. And once locked, it felt like an electric shock went through her, and she couldn't let go of that gaze, didn't want to! And she would never presume but it seemed the same with him.

"So strong and so lovely and he didn't even mention you once! And yet here we are, because of you. Don't forget that! Tonight, what comes of it, your mother's smile, everyone still alive, and here we are, you do that, no one else. We can save just as much as kill." She held back a tear but what he later dubbed "his smile" was born, gentle, sincere, and for him alone and he dropped his gaze to the whole of her face and shined one of his own, for her. Later he would say he smiled only for her. The rest were smirks or his mad bits of sarcasm. It had been so long since anyone had made her feel anything but pain, and that shock… It was to much and his usually shut mind was wide open. _"God, she is beautiful! Those eyes… I can't look away from her, God it's a mirror, my pain, poor soldier, my Little Warrior!"_ his thoughts trailed off, while he fought the urge to trace a finger along the side of her face. He was saved by her other tempter. "Since when does my stoic bro get the Monoply on the hot Soldier Babe?!" the comment made her laugh outloud, it was so high school! "Does the vocabularly go beyond terms like Babe in there?" she stood and playfully poked the side of his temple that got her a look that made her wonder. There was a softness there, a kindness, whatever he saw when he looked at her it brought forth a tenderness that her brother refused to acknowledge. There was more to the blonde than met the surface, one needed only to gaze a little longer. He wore a mask that just scratch the surface… He let out a laugh. "Nah, just your usual beach bum stoner." he said, with a hint of bitterness. She gave him a genuine smile. "I call bullshit, Paul." she said softly. "Do you now?" he said, while they were watched.

Dwayne gripped her arm and stared into his brothers eyes. "So do I." he said softly. Lucy's voice called and Miri facepalmed herself. "That woman is going to murder me slowly one day, I'm CONVINCED! Come on, before she she drags me in by my short hairs and beats me within an inch of my life for not being a better hostess and bringing you in right away!" she said. Two sets of arms went around either side of her waist, gently and none to tight, but there. Behind her the silent voice of David who arrived just behind answered her unasked question. "Because of you our brother is alive. We owe you a life debt, and that makes you ours. The same can not be said of the others. I am sorry but they betrayed their coven and there is a price that must be paid for what they have done. That does not mean they will die, but their actions must be answered." as a soldier Miri understood exactly and even though she did not like it, it was not her place to interfere. All she could do was plead for mercy. And with Max on her side, the punishment would not be severe and perhaps could be mitted out to be at Lucy's disposal, as the intended betrothed and the soon to be second in command. She knew that look and she also knew that Max would not let her mother go, not now, not ever, for any reason. She personally would like him to castrate her "father". An raised eyebrow of said man with bottle glasses caused her to duck behind Dwayne who watched her out of the corner of her eye and tighten his hold on her while Paul let go. "_Miri?" _he saw something, making her want to smack herself. She didn't want him to know, she didn't want anyone to know, and then the hold got even tighter. He kept silent but the message was clear.

They were going to talk about this! And Max saw it while catching the guilt on Lucy's face. "We are celebrating the fact we are alive tonight and I want to know you all as I have missed all of this while gone. I am not ready to talk about any of it. Not the screams, the gunshots… but pray with me. Before we eat, Mom, I know you gave up on the Church but it has given me hope and healing and meaning in a world gone to Hell around me. Let me pray for my brothers and my sisters who bled the ground red." she nodded. "Baby Girl, sometime you are going to have to talk, but not tonight. Not tonight. We can pray and someday, you can tell me about them." she was surprised when Dwayne did not let go, he led her to a chair right next to his and sat before his grip slid down to a looser hold on her wrist. She shot a questioning look while all the others just smirked and in the end, so did he. He leaned over and whispered in her ear "Soldiers watch after soldiers, especially those like you and I. You can keep her out, but not me. I've already seen it with my own eyes. You are with us, now. You saved us all, and now you are stuck. Get use to it." she let out an audible groan while Marko let out another smirk and a giggle before arms came on either side of her shoulders. "Welcome to the Club of Misfits, Tameri Emerson, your in stellar company!" it was how he said it, that sardonic tone and that playful glint that had her busting up into laughter and loosening her companion beside her, like he felt everything she did, which she was to find out later that was indeed a fact. David picked up the thread. "No need to fear, all of us, we are all monsters here." he eyeballed Star who shrank in her chair while Sam glared at him with undisguised hatred earning him a kick from Miri underneath the chair into his shin and Mike to look down at the table and fix what Miri had once labled his stone face on his features.


	2. The Tragedies of Our Sisters

**Chapter Two: **The Tragedies of our Sisters

**While serving, people could of sworn they were related. From the moment they met in bootcamp, Tameri Emerson and Khepri Halo, who shares a supernatural secret and bares the burden of being a Bastest (A Were-Cat, changing into a giant Cheetah) they have been inseperable, sharing sorrows, one another's pain, every secret. When coming home to LA, Khepri walks in to a nightmare! The first time her curse triggered, she had unknowingly slain the Sabat head of Clan Lasombra, a popular vampire with a devoted mate. Searching from New Orleans, he found and slaughtered Khepri's pack, leaving the scorching bones in the back of her house and her mother and brother's bloody forms within the house. The young Cheetah goes wild, filled with desire for revenge, her dark blue eyes, almost identical to Miri's turn bright gold, and only her caution and knowing such a large group would need back up in order to be slaughtered in vengence, she calls her Blood Sister. Picking up the phone from Miri who rages with anger, Max who is over to take Lucy out on a date calms down both through their sisterly bond forged on the battlefield and an old ritual Khepri asked for in case they ever were sent from each other. He refuses to let Miri go alone, already taking over the father roll he already feels towards the girl as he fears what a volatile Mage and unstable Were will start and convincing the other two that this needs thought and back-up, sends the two boys that need a night out of Santa Carla, Dwayne and Paul. Meanwhile, as Alan talks about his strange supor and his growing fondness for Miri, he notes the unhealthy glint in Edgar's eyes as he begins to rant that the beautiful girl didn't know what she was dealing with and he had to save her before she got in to deep. And the more he heard about her bond with the raven haired vampire, the more determined he became. Now it's poor Alan's job to warn her.**

**In battlefields were innocents bled**

**and from the platforms on which they walked**

**hand in hand as they learned to stalk**

**to learn how to perfectly kill and to leave in horrified shock**

**Sisters they were born in heart though not so bred**

**And dark secrets of rape, violence and the dead**

**were held not back and shared in their sacred company**

**and in that duo only could they find for their hearts any sympathy**

**alone in the dark they could think, and feel together and be free**

**and bind up the wounds of the blood the other shed**

**That bound them together forever without an end**

**and every pain and sorrow of the other bound**

**would find the heart and break it or cause the tears that drown**

**of the other who's trust and life and pain was also her's now**

**and to the end's of the earth for the other they would fend.**

**And a cold knife shanked though the Mage that made her ache and rend**

**running down past all others to set the dial tone**

**and there her Cheetah cried all alone**

**while her slaughtered pack and her family left her to groan**

**and the Elder was forced to pick them both up and break himself in.**

**That his chosen daughter's blood may not run the streets red**

**nor break her unknown mate without word or warning**

**he sends in calvary to keep the plans from forming**

**Save the soldiers from dying in fields far from the Enemy**

**And set the stage of Destiny for two brothers and two Sisters once friends**

**-The Tragedies of our Sister excerpt by Makilome**

Khepri's POV

It was a nightmare, pure and simple, filling her with an all consuming pain and rage and hollowness in her soul that screamed out of her and out into the all to beautiful day. The sun in it's glory was mocking her, the fill of the breeze, the smiles, the sounds of laughter, all mocking her while the corpses of her family bled her carpet red and the scorching ruins of her pack mates entered her sensitive nostrils. All she could do was sink to her knees, her hands clinched so tight the nails cut through fragile tissue and making her bleed and she felt nothing of it. Her mouth was opened in a perfect 'O", eyes in shock, her system shut down. She had entered into a war zone far from the fields of eastren Europe and she was ransacked with betrayel! Messages in blood all over the walls. Innocents, all of them. They had not commited the so called crime. My God, the thing was a VAMPIRE! Such was what their world was, and at that time she had no idea, until of how it died and the shade the eyes had turned. It wasn't her fault! No one had ever told her about the curse, about Bastet, about being a were, that it came down in families! When she had ran, covered in blood, crying and demanding answers at first her family tried to tell her she had a hallucination from heat stroke! But you can't wash away blood, that was no false vision. At the time she had been fragile. A regular angel in a crowd of gods of monsters in a garden of evil, easily hurt. She was always strong willed and bull headed, one of the things that bound her to Miri instantly. And her Mage! She was going to feel everything, but she couldn't even find it in her to form words, her mind was shattered, her heart bleeding. A growl from deep inside roaring out, betraying what she was, forcing her to almost rip the door off the hinges to close it.

Her body was shaking, and she guessed it was merely out of the sudden state and the shock that she had not immediately changed out of the stress and gone out on a tear. She forced herself to use the techniques that Miri had taught her, making her breath slow by counting in Latin, requiring thought and memory to take over. Slowly her grip began to loosen, and the sting made itself known. She cursed, knowing she needed to clean the wounds to keep from infection, already deep and bleeding heavily, her claws where her nails should be gleaming crimson and the ugly gashes making her cry out in fustration. She couldn't stay here like she was, around the bodies. She was the only Halo left now, she was the only one that could bury the dead. And she couldn't be alone. She didn't trust what she would do. If she wanted to do any real damage other than go on a suicide mission which accomplished nothing, she was going to need back up. And the call from Miri was meer seconds away. Meanwhile she forced herself to meditate on the sting while she looked for the cleaning alchohol, enjoying the sensation of pain forming and becoming stronger, keeping her from thinking, from seeing, from doing anything but focusing on the task at hand. It made everything clearer, she wanted to laugh at the madness of it, like she often had in the battlefield. Secrets, two girls out of control, inner darkness taking over and the villages. Whether the slaughter was sanctioned or not, it mattered little. They still died because of them. But instead of hating one another her and Miri clung together, like they were meant to be. Family, sisters, every pain the other knew, sometimes even every thought. Certainly she felt strong desire flooding through her last night and it made her smile. Miri was needing to get some for a LONG time!

She cried out as the rough cloth sent strings of violent pain ripping through her, the rubbing achohol making her think of that funny little saying they both had, "oh pain sweet pain!" she sung to herself before laughing. Even before she finished bandaging the second hand the phone was ringing, and she didn't even answer it with a hello. She didn't need to. "They're dead Miri. All of them. Slaughtered like animals! My pack is in ashes still smoking in the backyard, my family…." she trembled as she tried to continue the hold on the phone. "Mon Deiu, Khepri! Who, how, why?!" the girl had the wind knocked out of her, and just like the Mage, her rage was told not in roars, but in the quiet, that ice cold calm that scared even her sometimes. "Remember the vampire, the one we found out was the Sabat Lasombra head of LA?" she asked. Already she was beginning to focus. They needed an in with the Camaria Lasombra Clan, to know what their weaknesses and strengths were. If she remembered correctly, there was a loose aquaintance Lucy had through her close friend, Lilly Langtree. The Prince of San Francisco, the ancient Arkan. Only by her gift had Miri knew who Lilly really was, as a child. The others were kept sheltered, whether they still were she never said. The reconcillation felt strange and hurried to Khepri and kept her up till that strong feeling of lust and connection that about knocked her off her feet loomed and made her happy for her sister. Through him they could get a connection to the LA head. This would attract the attention of the humans, it was a violation of the Masquerade of a high order. And she herself had to go now to the next head….and when it dawned that she was the last of her pack, she was the alpha now...a cry let out in strangled pain.

"KHEP!" Miri yelped through the phone. "I want revenge, Miri! I am going to take from them everything they took from me! And you are going to help me!" and she was taken back when she yelled at her. "Of course I'm going to fucking HELP! You out of your mind?! YOu think I am going to let this fly?! I am a St. Monica damnit!" she heard glass shatter in the background. "_Oh shit! I forgot….her temper and mine, means things break and people die"_ she gulped, hearing the sound of an older male voice before she spoke again. "Shhhh, I'm sorry Mage. I'm sorry. I meant Lucy, your mom and Lilly. They can help us get what we need. I want revenge but I don't want to be stupid. It's really hard, it's really hard not run out of this house and hunt them down and slaughter them like the freaks that they are, but I'll be cut down before I can do any real damage and nothing will be achieved and my own will remain unavenged. But I can't hold for long. My instincts are going to take over. It would probably be better for you to be here when they do." her eyes were flashing as the more she thought about it, the more the images ran through her eyes, the smell of the blood, the words and the walls and the smell of the smoke trailing in from the windows the more her grip on control was going. Her claws grew longer and her arms began to shift while she struggled to hold on. Miri's uncontrolable nature wasn't helping, it fed on her and she fed on her sister back. She heard a short argument before a voice she never heard before came on the line. "How long can you hold, Soldier?" it was so soft, and filled with power. It sent trimmers down her spine and some how reached out from the other end of the line. It gripped on to the remaining parts of her sanity and placed it back in her hands and told her to hold on for dear life.

"Who are you?" she asked. "Never mind that, my Sweet Soldier will explain everything when she gets there. But I need to know how strong you are. If you are all out, you could in your rage hurt her. I don't want her hurt, Soldier! I don't want to see her bleed, she has bled enough. So you will answer me if you care for your friend when I ask you, how long can you hold, how strong are you in your Cat Form, and can she hold you if she needs to?" he asked. Khepri sighed. "Not alone she can't. I turn into a giant Cheetah, 900 lbs and the size of a horse when on all fours. And you are right, I can't control this...not this...you don't understand sir… Max, whoever you are! My pack!" she began to roar. "Oh yes I can, Miri is the only reason I am not suffering as you are right now. And my first family was also slaughtered by a Anarchist Gangrel with a deep hatred of the Toreador. I am sending two of my own with her. Anything happens to the three of them, anything at all, if I see so much as a scratch, I will take it out on you. It may seem like that matters little to you right now, but trust me, I can make it matter, Soldier. I can make it matter to the point of insanity. Now you do what you have to and get control over yourself. You can't leave the house like that and you know there can be no funerals. The humans can not know what happened there. Lucy, she can block the emotions long enough she says to get the job done. You stay where you are on this phone with her till it kicks in." she heard him turn to speak to Miri. She was in shock at the tenderness oozing off of him towards her. She hoped that wasn't the one that made her girl feel that shock of emotion the other night…. "Tameri, I know its hard and you want to race but I want you to go, make Michael or Star show you the way to the Cave. You go get Paul and Dwayne, they are both there now trying to clean up the mess the Froggs made. You don't leave without them." he said.

"Giving orders? Since when am I pack?" Miri fired back, clearly still reeling with Khepri's broken heart and her anger and thankfully it seemed he realized that but still put her in check. "Since I laid eyes on you! Since I know what is in your destiny child, and I won't see it torn because you are reckless in your anger, and so is she. And I am the Alpha of this pack, no matter how powerful you may be. Now don't argue with me, just do what I say! You want revenge? This is how you get it. They will be waiting for you, take my car." there was a cling, a muttering before there was footsteps and the sound of the door. "Now my little cat, take heart. I'm not leaving you stranded and alone. But you know by now that this could spark a war and we already have two trigger happy would be's with Hunter gear just waiting for an excuse to try again. I can get you in with Arkan to ask permission and through him the Head of your own in Santa Carla. He has an inforcer as well, someone with experience in extermination, name of Julian. Now, here is Lucy, do everything, and I mean everything she tells you. "Yeah, yeah." she waved him off. Her bestfriend was a Mage, she knew the drill like she knew the back of her own hand! The voice of Lucy, a little higher and softer but other than that the perfect match of her daughter took over the phone and they both began, the older woman ordering Max around to get the supplies and giving her all the images and the connections to the beast and the human that her daughter already knew. She also used the link between the Blood Sisters to reach her. Her lilting, chanting voice sent through the young were-cat a chilling calm before suddenly it felt like everything stoped and she was simply waiting. She was warned of the draw back. When the spell broke the feelings would be overwhelming but by that time she would be in the house. Such was her life, now.

She turned around to the mess, her heart closed off, and got out the cleaning supplies and began with the walls, deciding with cold logic to work her way from the top down. She left the bodies though she cleaned them, she wanted to make sure that the spell held and she wouldn't risk ripping them up before she had a chance to bury them by turning and breaking them. She bound up her two toned hair in a tight bun, meeting at the curve of her neck, auburn and blonde curls breaking out here and there while she wiped off her tanned, mocha skin from the sweat on her forehead. Grateful she went without make-up that day, nothing was there to get in her eyes or to pour down and annoy her with it's heavyness. Her pixie features marking her out still and giving a sense of false vulnerability to any who didn't know her better. Her small but pouty lips were pursed in concentration while she scrubbed, the hours ticking by and her only bit of emotion was willing Miri to move faster. And strangely she felt the other two through their own bond. Girl moved fast! But she felt a personal connection with one of them. All she could get was piercing blue eyes and a jester's smile, but it pulled on her inspite of everything that was going on around her. Several times she felt the sting of the soap as her bandages broke. She finally had to stop and tap into the Cat's healing letting the paws form, amazed at the strength of Lucy's spell as she kept in control the whole time, watching in fascination as the fur and skin reformed over the broken ones, when she turned back all that was left were nasty scars. Good, it would be a reminder every time she looked at them of what she had to do! She could never forget and never let the bastards walk free after the crimes they had committed against innocents who had nothing to do with waht she had done!

Free of the pain she was able to think logicaly again, leaning on the strategy they had learned while in the armed forces. Stealth was going to be vital and information absolutely crucial, however they could get it. Miri was to well known, even more so than herself in the community, but her brother, Michael, was basicly an infant in the supernatural. No one would know him! There had to be a way to convince the younger Emerson to help them in this. It shouldn't be to hard, he was a man, and men she was finding could be motivated so very easily. Whether it be her or some other woman she didn't really care. She would make sure he didn't get hurt. She knew that Miri would skin her alive which would again, leave her dead unavenged. And in this state it was easier to say it, to think of them as her dead. When she arrived she knew it, before she shut off the car engine, before she could make out the three distinct pairs of footsteps. She was still scrubbing away at the floors while the bodies cooked when she didn't even knock. "Oh my God, Cheetah!" her Mage gasped slinking back, being held back by two very tan arms by a very, VERY beautiful looking Native American male. True Blue Toreador for sure! And behind him came the man that had her hiding her reaction behind a mask but he himself was not so apt at such a feet, eyes widened, and a connection upon eye contact that hit her in the gut! (I'm stealing Twilight's imprinting, deal with it!) Inspite of the state she couldn't make herself look away and he couldn't either, moving closer as though on a tether. And the world and everything but him dissapeared around her, and a disconnect to everything that was not the two of them filled her being in an instant! Both the Native and Miri was calling their names, the only thing that kept her knowing that was taking in his name from the velvet tone of Miri's native.

She knew Miri didn't know, nor did he, but she was a fucking Cheetah. She knew mates when she saw them. Which meant….. _"Oh shit! I just did…. and now, of all fucking times, really?! Really God?! Right this second is when you decide this?!"_ she thought at God. But it was him that had the first comment. "Whoah!" was all that would come out, both Miri and the Native giving him a strange look, afterwhich she eyeballed Khepri who shrugged it away. No need to freak out yet, there was work to be done still. She gestered for them to sit while she and her Mage began her tale. The blonde, Paul, begged to see her cat-form, like a giddy child, but she had to turn it down. "Your Maker will flay me six ways till Sunday if I change after I promised him, and I like breathing, it's grown on me while being alive." the Native, Dwayne he had said his name was snorted while patting Paul on his back while Miri had that mad glint in her eye. Together they went about the long task of cleaning up everything, the two vampires using their abilities to make sure that everyone within a block did not see anything unusual. Nothing to see here, it was like watching the cops on a campy tv show. In the backseat she stayed with her, Mage making her talk the whole time. She wanted her to get it out before the spell wore off and she knew why. Busting out in form and out of control in a moving car would not be a good idea, for anyone! So she indulged, and even as she spoke it became clear why Max freaked. She had began to loose it and she was powerless to stop the beast once it began to take over. There was nothing she could do about that. It was the way of the Wild, as her old Alpha, Kiera had taught her. Some of her still could see through the animal and the beast kept all her emotions, but she could not regain her humaness alone making a pack vital to her existance.

She would need to find one, pronto! Whether she remained alpha and created one of her own or joined another existing group was yet to be seen. When they finally left, it was Paul that turned around and made it his personal mission in life to keep her mind off anything that had to do with what had happened and everything she had lost. And either the imprint was incredibly strong or he had a serious knack for it, because he was doing a damn good job! It was that jester's grin, he could sell ketchup to the President with that grin! And the ten million questions, it felt like he was comparing notes so she decided to indulge the man and began asking her own questions. It seemed he knew little of the actual Masquerade other than the Golden Rule. Dwayne knew alot more, and Miri knew a little something about it, she knew the Clans, but not the story. However, the man marked for her knew it all and told the story of Cain and Lilith, and she found it heart breakingly sad. She knew how they both felt. But she also knew, as what she was, that sometimes even if one doesn't want to, if in all other ways you were equal, someone has to submit, to give way, for a relationship to go forward, especially a supernatural one. She was about to learn it soon. It would figure they would find their Fated at the sametime, and go through this strange but inticing experience together, seems her and Miri had been doing that from the moment they first met! She held on to the girl tighter. She was all she had now. She was going to be her family. There was a softer smile from her blonde on seeing the action, something she imagined he didn't know she saw. He didn't show many he had a heart, of that she was certain. It was a shield of armour, that Playboy persona of his.

She would know. Innocence was hers while Miri's nickname in the unit was the Ice Queen. It kept others at bay, made them think twice before they came near. And the fact that she and her always stuck together started the rumour that they were a thing which had amused them to no end, and they loved nothing more than to mess with their heads, faking sounds from their shared room, a peck here and there, making like they were necking and just got caught, a frozen hand just above a breast. The shocked and interested expressions before Mage scared the shit out of them gave them endless hours of amusement when they left. She had a feeling Paul would be one of those who wanted to make himself in a Miri/Khepri sandwich, REALLY bad! And the thought made her snort aloud while her chicka smacked her upside the head. "Really?!" she asked, though she couldn't totaly hide the amusement. It was two hours in before she felt it. The pain came in waves, at first it was a physical sensation. And then the images and she began to shake and the words began to spill out of her. She remembered everything about killing the Lasombra. The look on her face, all the blood, how frightened she had been, running through the streets and realizing suddenly she was on all fours, seeing her image in glass windows and becoming scared she couldn't turn back! The Army had been a way to find control, to learn discipline, to become stronger mentally and physically, to be ready when she came home for what she was and what she might have to face. And then she came home, stronger, tougher, ready to come back to Kiera and be a part of the pack to see that horrific sight, to know she would never see or hear Kiera's wisdom again, or her brother's laugh, her mother's smile. She shook so hard, and Miri used all her power to contain her and she could see the sweat on her forehead and pouring off of her as she focussed all of her attention to keep her from changing.

And then something happened. Paul turned around, reached back, grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him before saying "Miri, let her go." she looked like he was asking her to commit harry carry. "Just trust me, let her go! I got this!" she took a deep breath before Dwayne had an arm reaching back and on her shoulder, telling her it was alright. So she let go. And it was just them again. "That's right, were not here." and suddenly, they weren't! It was some strange woods, and it was dark and clear with shining stars. "I was turned here. I created a mental space when I can't control myself anymore. Here you can rage, you can break things, you can run, roar, and tear everything apart and no harm will come to any you love. I used that link, whatever that is when our eyes met to bring you here. Now please, I know you just met me babe, but you gotta trust me. Let go. Now! And she snapped, emotions taking full control the fur growing and that tale tale pain of bones breaking and reforming, roaring and screaming before being swallowed in the beast. The shocked look on both of them when she fully transformed was not lost. He was utterly fascinated and entirely unafraid when he approached and put a hand on her now giant head and pet her between her ears. He looked her in the eyes. "This is the Wild, babe. Be free." and how close it had been to Kiera sent the searing pain to an all-time high but even in this form, she knew him. She wouldn't hurt him. She wouldn't hurt her imprint, she would also kill anything or anyone that tried to cause him any harm. But now wasn't about them. And she let out a massive roar that echoed through the trees before taking off as fast as she could run, darting between the trees and deciding to hunt the bits of wild he had placed in the scape. She took her rage out on a albino dear, snapping it's brittle neck easily in her jaw's.

She mauled it before eating, catching hints of a blur and feeling eyes on her, and a bit of blood lust that wasn't hers. Next thing she knew, he had a bear by the neck, how his smaller hands ever managed that she wasn't sure she wanted to know. But hey, the couple that hunts together…..

Dwayne's POV

He watched her now with the rearview, her eyes not moving from her pretty, two-toned friend. He understood the connection, and it hurt, it hurt alot remembering the loss of his brothers, the brave men that had died by the hundreds in the last failed battle, all knowing that they were going to their deaths before he was saved to be turned into a slave of one of the Wild West Carnivals, worked and starved with next to no pay, no skills for English and helpless without a translator till the night he came across a hungry and out of control David and a man looking for a son that could keep his wild child calmer and exude a bit of control over his more terrible side. It was an open secret between the three of them. David was the leader, but if need be Dwayne had all the power he ever needed to reel him back and put him in his place. There had been only a few times it had been nesscery, and had almost needed to be done again, but then Miri came. And Miri made him feel, made him remember, made his undead heart beat again. With nothing more than that first look, her eyes filled with such pain, self hatred, guilt, anger, overwhelming shame. But she was also strong, a natural leader, highly intelligent, logical, had a control over her emotions that was uncanny in a woman of her age, she was a true asset to her unit and to her Coven, small as it was. They connected and he could always feel her, nothing in her mind was ever hidden from him. She suffered her pain in silence, and he didn't know how much longer he was going to allow that to continue. But he didn't know how to react or what to make of how he wanted to. To wrap her up tight against him and rock her, singing in his native tounge, trailing lips in her hair, cheeks, her long beautiful neck…

And when he wasn't near her he felt himself reach out for her before he even realized he was doing it. It was happening so fast, a matter of days. But when he thought of what sent her into that nightmare…. He foreced his breathing to slow and tried to keep from changing. A hand reached up, cool, soft, and as divine as any angel. "Dwayne?" her voice was concerned. He took her hand, suddenly not caring what it looked like or if it scared either one of them or was to fast and laced his fingers into hers and squeezed her hand before causing her to pull herself gently forward, the contact sending shockwaves through his system while also making it much easier all the sudden for him to drive. "I care, I care about you, about what she is going through right now, about each member of the coven of mages I have not yet met. I don't have any answers for you, only what I feel, and I know you suffer in silence while our Cheetah back there rages. I know her pain is ripping through you like now like she tears through invisable flesh. I know you want to find those bastards alone and risk yourself. And I know it's not going to happen because whatever you do, I am going to follow you. I am always going to follow you. I am never going to allow you to suffer any hurt nor fight any battle by yourself ever again. And I know I don't want you to fear me, or what this connection is." he got out, breathing evenly. She gave him a soft, sad smile. "I don't fear you. I should, I know better than anyone what you are and of what you are capeable, better than any of your brothers, your Maker, anyone who has ever known you. I know who carries the power in your coven, the punch. I know what you could have done to my family, but didn't. I know what battle we could have gone into. I don't know what happened, when you saw me. Or what this is, exactly. I don't care. Just see to it you act on what it is you know.

I've been alone a very long time. And all I have ever known is the continued support of me, myself, and I. And only since there has been a you have I had anything that remotely resembles a family in that line of dna from which I spring. You follow me, and you keep me from doing something stupid, and I will help you guide your brothers into the men they could be. It is far past time they took places within the Camaria, it is a haven and protection for your kind that you can no longer afford to just look away from. That attack was not just about Khepri, she was simply a convient excuse. It was an opportunity to rile the feathers of the Camaria. I've been on the ground, had my thoughts sent out across the planes. The Sabbat want to start something. They had been watching very closely, some manipulating the Froggs on the side lines pretending to be Hunters and the boys are to young to recongnize older vampires as you yourself know. They were waiting to see if Michael, Star, and they could take you down. Your coven and you in particular are an obstacle, or potential allies, either way they meant to test you. By taking Khepri's side, it has been the same as declaring your alliegance. They are going to use it to get what they want. And I don't know how we are going to hide it from the mortal world." and it was everything he had feared, making him sigh while he absent-mindedly ran comforting circles across her knuckles. "I am sorry, Miri. I'm sorry you have to fight another war." her eyes broke his heart, he'd do anything to whisk her out of there and keep her safe, but she was not made to be a princess in the tower. She was a warrior and made to fight on the battlefield. And she was a Mage, this affected her kind every bit as much as his. And she wasn't wrong. It was long time past they stoped this charade of nuetrality while patroling the shores of their town and throwing out every single Sabbat they ever came across.

But for all of that, he wouldn't go anywhere that took him away from her. She needed him, she as much as admitted it, in her own way. Tameri Emerson was not the type to jump into anyone's arms and declare undying loyalty and love before jumping a man. She was independent, stubborn, and self minded and she would not be ruled, not by anyone. But there would come a time when she would have to find it in herself to submit, it was all there in her lifeline, the deep intwining that insured that she was not the ordinary even among mages. She had an immortal mage. And it sent a blade through his heart to even so much as think about it. He didn't want to think about someone touching her, someone making her do anything, pulling her under, demanding…. It would take someone of incredible power to do that and make her submit. She acted out of respect that was earned. She looked to Max as an Elder, and so like an Elder, she respected his words and she followed them whether she agreed with his orders or not, she was afterall a trained solider. But with a mate… He shook and she gave him a strong look. "We don't know who that's going to be, or even when. And there is a possibility I'll die before that." and his hand tightened around hers, hard!. "I'm not going to allow that. You don't get to die on us….on me. Ok? If we have to kill the bastard later, fine. But you don't get to die." and that gorgeous smile again. He felt his heart go into his throat when that silky hair came down over his bare shoulder, uncovered in the heat and her head rested just upon their joined hands, in the crook of his neck and every instinct told him to lean in, along with other sensations he understood.

He was powerfully attracted to her, she knew it, she knew more about him than anyone else because she mise well be the female version of him. A few days time didn't seem to matter when it felt like years upon years since they had met. She wasn't afraid of that attraction or any affection, what he felt was a deep seated starvation, for love, for attention, for someone to give a damn about her life and everything she had been forced to go through. Well, she didn't know it, but when Max had seen through him what her father did he about lost his mind! He had wrecked half the cave and declared that Jake Emerson was a dead man if he ever set foot on Santa Carla, period! And then he proceeded to proclaim her his child, his daughter, to be treated as though she was his own blood and be held with respect. The protective vibes that came off of him was like if it had been his own daughter who had been repeated violated like that! And as for him, anger didn't even begin to cover what he felt! To think of this beautiful girl, at the mercy of that monster…. Begging for anyone to hear her and no one believing her, no one saving her… It made him physically ill, he couldn't function or think! "I know. We will do what we must. But you, my Little Warrior, must keep an eye on your own rage, and upon hers. Yours is a bond of twins, though how I could not say." and he rolled his eyes but grinned when she smirked with pride. Figured! His was a powerful new member of their group. "This is sensitive as you said and it boils down to more than what happened back there. You are right in assuming that she and even we are not the real target. The real targets are who we are connected to and who they are." "Oh dear Lord! Arkon." she said with a fustrated sigh. He nodded. "And his annointed successor, Julian Luna. There is rumors of an insider not happy with Arkon just selecting who will take his place as Prince. Lilly asked for the support of my Order, which I can only ask for, I do not have the power to simply give it." she said.

"When you go, we are coming with you. It is time we come out of the Cave, as it were and onto the supernatural stage. Our silence has been noted. It isn't going to be tolerated by either side any longer, that has been made very clear. But bringing the Mages, the Weres, and the Camaria to the same table without a massacre is going to be a feat for Holy God!" he was eyeballing her and she raised her head up, ocean eyes darkening, sparklong in a way that made his breath catch in his throat. He was wrong. Strongly attracted didn't BEGIN to cover it! He'd happily drown in the depths of those ocean pools that were her eyes! She patted his arm while she swept her long hair back and over her shoulder with the other hand. "Even if I said no it would do me no good. You and the others would follow me. Especially David. I think he thinks I am his new favorite sisterly toy who's mettle he wants to test on the unsuspecting populace." it made him laugh, and he felt it when Khepri and Paul rejoined, deeply impressed with the calm tired look on her face. And there was peace there. He didn't know how much Miri knew about mates but he knew for a fact that the Cheetah had imprinted on his brother and it made him deeply happy for him. He had a fear that Paul would go for the Mage. It was the way he looked at her. He didn't want anyone to take the Mage away from him, not anyone! And that poor girl had been through something so awful, only David would quite understand. Nobody knew but he that David had not been turned by Max. His had been a violent and random turning by the Gangrel Sabbat Clan in New Orleans after a battle of the Civil War left him on the battleground. A woman wanted him for her sex slave and he had somehow managed to hide beneath a pile of dead bodies the first time and avoid her by seeking sanctuary so she found his family and took them all. She left their bodies one by one on the Chapel steps, starting with his pretty wife first before all that was left was his 3 year old son.

His 3 daughters, his younger sister and brother sent to him to raise away from a plague outbreak, each had been tortured and tormented, given the blood to draw out their torture and then laid out on the steps to bleed out for him to see. He tried everything, sending guards, having trained soliders, even sending priests to cast out the demons of his home before finally giving in and going out to her in the night. Berenisa had been a cruel mistress, she kept a harem to serve every desire. And those who were not perfect went through starvation, chained into the depths of a specific cave and tormented with bits of flesh left out for a sky hole to catch the light the sun and burn. A night hunting for his mistress, month's later when he contemplated running and commiting suicide he came across Max, someone far older than Berenisa, someone who could take her down. There was an immediate bond, as for sometime Max had been searching for the last remenants of what remained of his human descendants, many taken out by the Black Death. He knew David immediately, he had a talent for noting family lines, and had a friend from the Tremere Clan who told him for sure and together they took down Berenisa and left her to die in her Cave. It was one of the reasons he felt so strongly about Miri. He understood what was done to those she had considered family and even more he knew what happened to her. "No one is letting either one of you lovely ladies out of our sight, period, end of story. You are one of us now. A regular bonafide Misfit. We even have t-shirts!" Khepri and Miri giggled while he playfully swatted Paul upside the head. "You understand what Miri and I are saying, don't you? We can't just be us out on our own anymore. We ar going to be part of something much larger. TIme to clean up and join up, and things are going to be expected of us. We are past the age of the constant party.

We are being used as pon pieces by those without morals, without honor, without anything they hold dear except what ever wild desire happens to carry them at the moment and making humanity take the bottom of the food chain in a lot more public manner. We have to join with Arkon. There hasn't been Camaria in this part of California in forever! And this meeting…..this is going to be an interesting little gathering. We are not going to let Lucy, Tameri, and Khepri go it alone for their connections to their repective troops. Besides, I want to meet Miri's coven, and since you are the only one who got to see our Cheetah, I want a demonstration, that shit was not fair and I call foul dude!" Miri snorted which had him choking out a laugh. He could feel her small moment of happiness bubble up and he was holding on to it as his for dear life. Khepri winked at him with a Cheshire smile sure to make Marko proud, as Paul snickered in triumph while shooting back one of his smiles that usually make the girls melt. But she was not going to simply fall into Paul's lap, even though he was her imprint and her feelings were instant and intense. He knew his brother didn't knew what had happened quite yet, but he could feel that he liked it and that all he wanted to do was crawl back there and take their kitten in his arms and keep her there while they continued this, and well, every other conversation. When he wasn't looking directly at her he was catching glimpses through reflective glasses and once again the relief came. One less competition and he had a feeling Paul would have been very strong competition. But that didn't leave him out of the running. Covens ere known to have integrated relationships and the very strong bond between Cheetah and Mage was long established with an epic history behind it. Which made him leer and Dwayne with a very wicked gleam in his eye. And he got bombarded with images but underneath it was that first reaction to Miri.

He made it quite clear. "I want them both. And if I can have them, I will. And if I can have them and they want each other, I can be a generous mate. And I like to watch! So if you want her, figure it out and make your move because if you don't, someone else will. I am not the only one in the coven with an eye on her. We all are connected to her. And if you haven't figured out that it's one of us, if not all of us, that is destined her Fated, you haven't been paying attention. And you really should. Because if David takes her, he won't share her, not with you, or me, or anyone on planet earth and you know it!" He looked at him rather strongly after he sent the silent message. He knew David didn't induce those feelings in her. And he didn't get them. But he was stronger than David, something Paul didn't know. "I'm not after anyone, Dwayne. But David…. he's a brother. It will feel weird." he grinned softly shooting a grin back at his Mage. Message heard loud and clear. Attraction was not one sided. And she was telling him she didn't want David. And she wanted perhaps a bit of competition. No one ever told her she was beautiful before other than the girl at her side. She wanted to be won, to wooed, to be treated as a woman to be desired, to be chased. Turning back to the road he smiled to himself. That was just what he had in mind! Something to take her mind off of everything. TO make her see herself as who she really was. She was a woman, underneath the soldier's armour and the Mage's magick. A very beautiful, perfect woman. And he was going to introduce that to her. Paul's challenge had the desired effect. Fine, Blue Eyes wanted to play?! He looked right into Paul's smirk and said just for them to hear "You and your Cheetah? You two can bring it on?!" he shot.

An evil, satisfied smirk came on Paul's face. "That's JUST what I wanted to hear!"

Alan's POV

He knew he was in trouble the first time he saw out after that night. She had been in the book store with a giant pile of books on Enochian magick that put a glint in his eye. He dragged his brother aside and he looked like a happy puppy. "She's a Mage! That's why she said that! Girl wants to clean house herself! I thought she was going to be one of those New Age girls….but those books were Enochian, ENOCHIAN!" he said. "Edgar, I know what Enochian is! It doesn't mean anything other than she is a mage. It may have nothing to do with the fact that her house is infested currently with bloodsuckers. That was before she came and not her fault." he said. "Of course it isn't! She's a soldier! She's not an idiot, like Michael! Dude, she's a soldier, she is not going to leave younger men at risk when she has the mojo to take out the problem with fewer casualties. She was looking out for us!" he said. Alan looked at him like he grew two heads. "Did you even HEAR the same conversation? Or see how the dark headed one looked at her? I don't think that she is going to be doing anything to them. And as of now, have you seen any dead bodies because I sure haven't. What if she found a way to keep them from having to drink? Or to curbe their thirst? It's not exactly impossible. You and I both know there are other ways than killing or killing humans to be what they are. And if she desires to teach them and leave a few less missing in the town, I toast her and leave her to it! It's not our problem now. As long as Sam is out of danger, the Lost Boys are not my concern. Especially when we got activity coming in out of LA far more disturbing, or did you not hear?" and suddenly he had Egar's full attention. "What's going on? Wha'ts happened?" he asked more gentle. "Tameri had a friend there, Sam told me. She had to leave tonight to go get her. They were massacred to a man. And in her back yard there was a pile of smoking bodies. Blood was everywhere. Something big is getting ready to break out.

I've been talking to Albert, the guy that's been training me. He says that the good vamps have been expecting a hit, something to spark them to action. It's not looking good man, not looking good at all. In a war of vampire vs vampire, humans loose! And the girl…." Edgar shook his head. "Not interested, do we know anything about who would be after the friend, or could it be them?" and he wondered why his brother ever bothered to hunt at all. He was an idiot! Dead weight is what Albert called him. One of these days he was going to take the older Hunter's offer and leave Edgar behind. He was right-winged, bigoted, and reckless, something that could get this splashed all over the front page news. In a way he was no different than the Sabbat Albert taught him about. He too thought humans should know about vampires. The more Alan learned, the more he began to see the Lost Boy's point of view. And what Tameri said really made him think. The beautiful soldier had a point. Whenever they had seen them go for the hunt at all, it was street walkers, druggies who liked to off men after they did other activities and take them for all they were worth in cash, and the Surf Nazi's who were deep into the drug trade and sex trafficking in their larger groups in LA and San Francisco. They made special more graphic kills for pedophiles as a message. Not many sex convicts remained on the streets of Santa Carla once let out of jail. Perhaps they weren't the monsters they had pegged them to be. When he gave him all the information Albert had on the boys, Edgar called him blind and naieve, patted him on the head like a six year old, and then walked out. And this obsession with the soldier was getting on his nerves! First the ranting and raving and now gushing like a fanboy! Tameri was 21 years old, had been through a living hell, and was beautiful as well as smart. She'd go after Edgar the day Alan turned into beastiality and fell in love with a camel!

But he kept going on and on. "Look, she's going to be back sometime. Leave her alone tonight. Her friend is going to need her and I think Lucy is going to take her in after everything that happened. Let them be with one another and then if you can't get this out of your head go and try to talk to her. But I am telling you dude, she's not interested and she never will be. And she isn't going to turn on them on your word! They aren't what you want them to be and she is no one in need of saving, she can look out for herself, as you said yourself. But if you try ANYTHING without her leave, the Lost Boys won't have to kill you, I'll do it myself!" he finally said, annoyed. Edgar smirked before mussing his hair. How he thought he had a shot was beyond Alan, it truly was. Tameri was a part of that pack, he could feel it, and it made him actually feel happy for her, something he would never of thought possible. The dark haired one, he needed to talk to him. Tell him that his brother had lost his damn mind and please keep him away from her. He wanted to protect her in some small way if he could, even if Edgar was nothing more than an annoying flee to the likes of her. Tameri had a rep within the supernatural world, many looked to her as a rising star within her Order and she was deeply devout and loved of the Faith. She could do just about what ever she willed to his brother. But he could stir up feelings from war and with the one looming on the horizon that Albert feared, she had enough to worry about. He got out a paper and a note. "We aren't friends, I know that. But this isn't about us. It's about Tameri. My brother is obsessed and he's going to do something stupid. Please keep her out of his line of sight, and watch yourselves close. When he gets like this he is willing to do anything and he will not hear reason. -Alan Frogg"


End file.
